Sunday, July 26, 2009

Day 1 - July 21st Journey to Îles de la Madeleine

Tuesday, July 21st - The journey to Îles de la Madeleine started early Tuesday morning...the bike was packed and it was time to meet my traveling partners, Luc, Martin & Susan. With our bikes loaded, we set out for our first destination, Mount Stewart, Prince Edward Island...about a 400km journey.

The weather was perfect and we stopped several times for fuel and food along the way. There was not much to see as we stuck to the major highways. We stopped to take view of the Confederation Bridge, an engineering marvel that connects New Brunswick to Prince Edward Island. The bridge is 12.9km long and is the longest bridge that covers ice (in the winter) in the world.

Next stop, was Mount Stewart, PEI. A friend had offered his cottage on the Atlantic Ocean and we graciously accepted his offer.

We had to drive about 2.5km through a farmer's potato field on a clay dirt road to reach the cottage. Potato farming is one of the largest industries on Prince Edward Island.

Once at the cottage, we unloaded our gear and checked out the area...nice beach with a great view! Supper was next and we relaxed through the evening in prep for Wednesday's five hour ferry ride. The cottage is about 50km from the ferry from Souris to Îles de la Madeleine, so Wednesday's journey would be an easy run. At least we thought it would be...that will be covered in the next blog post, so stay tuned!

Must have KILLED you to ride the bikes in that mud!!!! I literally grew up driving dirt bikes around potato fields. During spring, summer and fall I worked on potato farms. On the family homestead, one side is (my bedroom) looked out onto a potato field, back of house backed onto potato field and other side of home had a potato barn! ~Carm~

Oh my goodness, I soooo want to go across the Confederation Bridge! I absolutely am fascinated with bridges. I love your picture of it! It looks like something I'd print and have framed in my living room. Can't wait to read and see more!